Trader Joe’s Cioppino Seafood Stew Review

When we hear the word stew, we tend to think of a pot filled with huge chunks of potato and beef that’s left simmering over a fire, like something they’d eat in the medieval period. It certainly doesn’t bring to mind gourmet-quality food.

So the Trader Joe’s Cioppino Seafood Stew surprised us a bit. It’s packed with seafood, like shrimp and clam, and it comes in a nice, red tomato sauce. This looks like a meal fit for a king rather than a medieval peasant!

Admittedly, some of that magic fades when you realize the cooking process is as non-gourmet as it gets. Simply toss the sauce into a pot until it thaws a little bit, then chuck the seafood in and let it simmer for a while. After ten minutes or so, it’s ready to eat! (The package says five to seven minutes once the seafood is tossed in, but we found that to be not quite long enough.)

The shrimp is firm, so it has a nice snap to it. The clam falls apart as the sauce cooks, so it practically melts in your mouth as you eat it. The mussels are a little rubbery, but not in a bad way. The scallops are, well, scallopy? All of this comes in a red sauce that tastes more like it belongs in a pasta than a soup. It’s thick and delicious.

The one complaint we have about the whole thing — flavor-wise — is that it’s all a bit too salty. This is a result of throwing so much seafood into a pot, but it’s also just a little too much. Not even the sweetness of the sauce can keep this saltiness down!

Trader Joe’s says there are two servings in this package. We’re not sure how they figure that — the picture we show of the cooked stew is a full package. This is a single-serve meal. That means that attractive 210 calories actually become a much-less-attractive 420. However, with all the seafood that’s crammed into this dish, it’s very filling.

The Trader Joe’s Cioppino Seafood Stew might not having you singing sea shanties, but it’s easy to prepare and it tastes great. We would have liked it to be a little less salty, but that isn’t enough to ruin this tasty stew.

To learn more about the cooking instructions, nutrition content, or ingredients for this Trader Joe’s seafood stew, check out our package scan below.